How to Document Personal Belongings in an Emergency
In the aftermath of a disaster that destroys your home, it can be nearly impossible to think through everything you’ve lost. Fires, floods, hurricanes, damaged roofs – when you rebuild your life, you may not think about how to catalog kitchen utensils for an insurance company.
But you do not want to give the general list of things to the insurance company and drop the case. You need money to move on. This Reddit thread gives some good advice on this. The job of the insurance company is to get as little money as possible for your claim. Therefore, the most important thing you can do is to be as specific and detailed as possible when you document what you have lost.
“For example, if all you said was ‘toaster,’ we would suggest a cheap $ 4.88 toaster from Walmart, designed to toast one side of one slice of bread at a time. And we’ll do it for all the things you’ve ever had, ”writes Jficek34 , who says he used to work in insurance companies.
It’s even better if you remember where you bought your toaster (or dishwasher, trainer, etc.) and the brand name. Of course, you don’t want to lie by asking for something dearer than what you had. But you really want to make sure you give as much information as possible so you don’t get fooled.
However, the matter goes further. Think of all the things in each room and catalog them – even an old shower curtain, shampoo / conditioner, bath bombs, serums, etc. Counting each one will bring you a much bigger payout. No matter how mundane something is, list it and list the price next to it. Do you have a bottle of Redken Shampoo? This is an expensive pleasure – indicate the price.
For more expensive items, such as electronics, you will need proof of purchase / price (just keep in mind that, probably, there are limits on your insurance policy for certain items, such as jewelry, wine, firearms, etc. D. One example here .). Some ways to do it:
- Take pictures, especially expensive items, and upload photos to the cloud. If possible, take a photo of the receipt / product information.
- Make a video of your belongings in every room of your house / apartment and upload them to the cloud again. This can be slowed down so you can see each element and take it into account later.
- Some insurance companies have apps for documenting things, although you’re probably better off doing this yourself and doing a cloud backup.
Obviously cataloging your home will take a while (as one commenter wrote, it took hours to catalog one bookcase), but if you make a project out of it for a few weekends, you can do it. Alternatively, prepare your videos.
If you do not shoot specifically for this purpose and something happens, then look through all the photos of your place you have: From parties, with family members, Sele of you, sitting in your living room, all this can be useful when you are working by memory.